


Bait

by Nny



Category: Shooting Fish (1997)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-06
Updated: 2011-06-06
Packaged: 2017-10-20 05:02:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/209014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nny/pseuds/Nny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>See, there was a happy ending. The handsome princes (that's us) won the girls and saved the day, and got half the kingdom. That's the way that stories go.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Bait

**Author's Note:**

  * For [soupytwist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/soupytwist/gifts).



_It is a silly fish that is caught twice with the same bait._

 _\--Thomas Fuller_

 

See, here's the thing. Jez always _believed_ in fairy tales.

I guess that's a disservice to the guy. He wasn't _delusional_ , ever; hell, he was one of the smartest guys I ever met and I _know_ smart. Smart is easier to milk, once you know the right buttons, and one of the interesting things about him is that his buttons were a little harder to find. I offered him fame, I offered him money... I even offered to pleasure him with my tongue ('cos hey, whatever works) and he damn near pissed himself laughing in the middle of a club. I think he gave in, in the end, because it's just sad watching a grown man beg.

See, when I offered him his dreams come true, what I mean is I offered him _my_ dreams. I'd just never noticed before because when it comes to dreams, we're all pretty similar. Wealth, power, someone to share saliva with, that's what it always seemed to come down to. Except for Jez; Jez was different.

Sometimes I think he was just more honest.

Maybe it's a basic human need, having someone and someplace to call your own. Jez called it 'home', and the tone of voice said he'd never had it either, and the tone of voice meant I knew _exactly_ what he was talking about. And the worst thing about him was that he somehow got under the skin, until when I was reassuring him that there was a happy ending around the corner I was almost starting to _believe_ it, and that's a sucker's game. _Never_ believe your own hype. _Especially_ when it comes true.

See, there was a happy ending. The handsome princes (that's us) won the girls and saved the day, and got half the kingdom. That's the way that stories go. And in stories you never have to deal with the part where the princesses are kinda... well, _princesses_. The kind that aren't used to the way the princes work, and expect money to be spent just because it's there. You spend money, it's not there any more, and then you just have to make _more_ , and where's the fun in that?

And when the text cuts off at 'happily ever after' you don't have to find your best friend's smuggled a sleeping bag into the greenhouse because his bedroom's too big, and you don't have to find that stunning as her smile may well be it's nothing if she won't go skip jumping with you, and you don't have to find out that, when it comes to it, it's not the 'stately' part that counts. No amount of skateboarding in the ballroom will make that right.

I think where I went wrong was I promised him 'home'. And I kinda forgot to notice the part where he ducked his head, and grinned, and nodded. And packed up the small amount of stuff he had, and moved in with _me_.

I promised him adventure, and excitement, and really wild things. And it was more out of habit than anything, 'cos everyone's dreams change, over time. And then I took a deep breath, and promised him a lack of 'ever after's. And I promised him I'd find us somewhere that was home.

We didn't take the Rolls, because the Rolls was never ours. In a _different_ way to all the other stuff. We left a note, and we left all the money, and we headed back into the place where the stories _begin_ , because Jez always believed in fairytales and they are _never_ about the ending, not when you read them right.

We're still chasing our happy ending.

That's the _point_.


End file.
